Angie Fox - ADS 01 - The Accidental Demon Slayer

Pirate’s flailing leg caught my arm, and I winced as his doggy claws sliced deep.

We broke through to the surface and, blessedly, I was able to touch bottom. Afraid to draw too much attention, I crouched in the water, just high enough for Pirate to keep his head above the churning darkness. The despair of this place surrounded us. Waves of hopelessness and fear tangled my insides. Grandma was nowhere in sight.

Pirate flailed in his carrier. “Oh, biscuits! Calm down. You calm? I’m calm. Oh, biscuits.”

“Shhh. You’re fine.”

“Shit.” Pirate shook off as best as he could, peppering me with putrid water. “That’s what I said. I said I was fine.”

“Look for Grandma.”

Pirate tried to wriggle a leg out of his carrier. “Oh yeah, the lady who said she wanted to make my intestines into a necklace? Yeah, let’s get right on that.”

Hang tight. Focus . I scanned the area for demons, witches and anything that wasn’t one hundred percent normal. Grandma had called this an ambush. Someone or—I gulped—some thing had created this lake in the middle of the road. And they had us stopped cold.

A shimmer spread throughout the water. Goose bumps snaked up my arms. Holy moley. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “Is it me or is the water glowing green?”

“Oh, man,” Pirate said, ready to climb up to my shoulders. “You know I’m color-blind.”

An emerald glow radiated from the depths of the water and broke to the surface in a roil of bubbling water. Churning foam sucked at my shoulders. “That’s it.” Ambush or not, I broke into a run, the waist-high water sluicing off us. We had to get out of here.

In a flash, Grandma appeared at the far side of the lake, at the edge of the woods. Shadows dove at her from every direction. “Lizzie, run!” she screamed before she disappeared.

“Grandma!” I made a mad dash for her. I had no idea what to do, but I had to do something. The air itself vibrated and smoked. It tasted like singed hair.

“Stop! Halt! Cut it!” Pirate yelled. “Wall!”

“Wall?” Then I saw it. It shimmered like a giant soap bubble. There was no time to stop. I felt my toes leave the ground as it sucked us through.

Thick, wet undergrowth tangled around my ankles. I steadied myself, ready for the worst. I clutched Pirate’s knobby little body and blinked once, twice. We’d raced headlong into a clearing littered with scores of rodentlike faces staring up at us. Imps. Their glowing purple eyes bounced through the darkness as they scuttled toward us, baring row after row of glistening teeth.

Grandma braced herself at the far edge of the clearing. Heavy iron cuffs bound her wrists and ankles. She struggled to hold them away from her body, despite the weights pulling at each cuff. An eerie tickle crept up my skin when I realized why. Curved snakelike fangs protruded from the cuffs and connecting chains, ready to pierce her skin if she gave in to the weight of her restraints. I wondered what horrors waited inside the fangs.

“Oh, this is just great,” she said, breathing heavily with exertion. “I told you to run, not get yourself trapped. Honestly, Lizzie.”

She could at least pretend to be grateful. “Ditch the attitude. I’m saving you,” I said. Somehow . The imps cackled like psychotic weasels as they skulked closer. I rubbed Pirate, who hadn’t stopped shaking since we broke through the wall.

“Yeah?” Grandma fought to keep the razor-sharp fangs from plunging into her skin, “Well, if you’re going to save me,” she stopped to catch her breath, “untie the damned dog and let’s get to work.”

“Right. That’s what I’m talking about. On-the-job training,” I said, desperate to mask my fear. I released Pirate. His wiry body slid down mine and to the ground. I had to focus, find my power. If I didn’t get this right, I hated to think what could happen to us.

Focus. Breathe. Find a way .

They might have numbers on their side, but I’d sent Xerxes to hell and I could send the imps too.

Pirate circled my legs as the imps stalked us from every direction. “Oh, you’d better get your ass back,” he said, “you filthy looking, I don’t know what you are. You do smell kind of nice. But don’t you be testing me. I’ll kick you into next Thursday. Don’t you think I won’t.”

I ignored Pirate and reached deep down inside. I was the most uptight, disciplined person I knew, and I had to use that. Whatever raw magic I possessed, whatever had allowed me to drive Xerxes from my bathroom, I’d find it and own it. Now.

“Water nymph at two o’clock,” Grandma warned. A dripping, green fairy rose from the marsh at the edge of the lake and skimmed toward us. She might have been beautiful if she hadn’t looked so desolate. She was tall, with the body of an underwear model. But her face sagged and her eyes held horrors I didn’t even want to imagine. She wore a shift that—ick—looked like it had been crafted from the skin of imps. And, I gulped, she held cuffs, the same kind that bound Grandma.

I dug my fingernails into my palms. Show no emotion . Instead, I focused every bit of will I possessed, felt the magic churning inside me. The center of my body hummed with energy. I could feel it right down to my fingertips. I let instinct take over and screamed the first thing that came to me. “Begone!” My own voice tore at the back of my throat as I flung my power into the clearing.

The imps cowered, clung to the ground.

“Begone!” I zapped them again with everything I had. This time, they stood still, studying me. The water nymph had sunk down into a puddle after my first try. Now she drew toward me, curiosity playing on her features. Oh no.

“ Solvo dimittium ,” Grandma hollered.

Hope flared and died quickly. They didn’t react to that either.

“Lizzie.” Grandma struggled against her chains. “You say it! Solvo dimittium .”

“Right.” I nodded, resisting the urge to run, which I knew would be useless and stupid and wrong. Solvo dimittium. Solvo dimittium . Driving my power to me once again, I opened my mind, took a deep breath and bellowed, “ Solvo dimittium! ”

A slight wind rippled the water nymph’s hair. A curl of blue flame sizzled a circle around her water-logged hair before fizzling.

“Shit,” Grandma said.

No kidding. “That’s it?” My voice hitched as the creatures closed in around me. “What else should I do?”

Pirate brushed past my leg. “You stand there and look pretty. Let me give it a whirl.” Pirate stalked toward a scowling imp.

“Pirate, no!” Bravery was one thing. This was something else.

Pirate thrust his tail out. “Suave dimmi-who’sit’s, you bug-eyed freak of nature.”

The imp shrieked and reared back to attack. Pirate yelped as it leapt onto his back, claws digging into his fur.

“Pirate!” That thing could kill him with one bite. It clambered up his back, heading straight for his neck.

Rage boiled inside me, and I drop-kicked the imp like I was punting a football. Three more took its place. I booted another. Blood flowed down Pirate’s back. At least one imp landed hard on my shoulders, clawing rivers of fire down my back. I spun, desperately trying to throw it off, when I spotted another creature circling.

A winged beast the size of a Clydesdale descended upon us. The same breed of creature we saw at the gas station—with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. A griffin? Tail swishing in the gathering wind, it reached for us, claws outstretched, like a hungry bird of prey.

Pirate broke free and bit the nearest imp. I threw an imp from my shoulders straight at the pair of talons leveled at my head. Grandma screamed something or other, but it was impossible to hear her over the high-pitched yelps of the imps and the screeching calls of the griffin. The flying creature dove straight for the water nymph.